Repairs continue at 105-year-old courthouse in S Carolina

ST. MATTHEWS, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina's chief justice is allowing a judge to hold court wherever he wants in Calhoun County while the 105-year-old courthouse is being renovated.

Renovations at the courthouse are likely to continue through 2018 requiring some adjustments to court schedules, Chief Justice Don Beatty wrote in an order earlier this month.

Lawyers can hold any hearings that were supposed to be in Calhoun County in neighboring Orangeburg County if all parties agree, Beatty said.

Court "may be held at any location in Calhoun County at the direction of the Honorable Edgar W. Dickson," Beatty added.

The county voted in April to start renovations of its courthouse, The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg reported .

The County Council voted to issue no more than $1.5 million in bonds, Calhoun County Deputy Administrator Ted Felder told the newspaper.

Crews are putting a new roof and gutter system on the building, repairing windows, removing peeling wallpaper and restoring the plaster substrate and stabilizing the exterior.

The courthouse was built in 1913, five years after Calhoun County was carved out of parts of Lexington County and Orangeburg County. It was designed by William Augustus Edwards, who also planned eight other courthouses in South Carolina.